a fly at the
window
watching the snow melt
spring fever
oil lamp
primeval wraiths
dance in the shadows
Free
Verse
Backlash
after
the crash
she prayed he’d live
promised God she could
endure anything
if she only had her son
months later
he sits immobile
drool dripping
down his twisted chin
Suffocation
Ragged
beard, ragged clothes, ragged
voice, the young man in handcuffs.
Orderlies, great hulks of men, strait-
jacket him and pin him to a gurney.
Still he screams, calling on angels
and demons alike to curse these men,
this hospital. To silence him,
they force a gag into his mouth.
Gagging, suffocating, I run,
trying to outrace the demons here
and in the hospital miles away
where my son lies bound to a cot
by voices that suffocate light.
Taiga: Autumn Leaf
